


Ghosts of China

by Bluejaykat



Category: Boy Story (Band), GOT7
Genre: Again, Angst, Fluff, Gen, Protective Im Jaebum | JB, Sad Im Jaebum | JB, Shuyang is aged down a bit, VIXX are kinda assholes in this, Vixx - Freeform, bap - Freeform, except Leo he loves children too much, i feel like i write too many of these, im sorry VIXX ily, just a story about family and JB getting his shit together, shuyang and JB are half brothers, the ending is so fluffy i hurt, they're all weak for Shuyang, this is a gang fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24262099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluejaykat/pseuds/Bluejaykat
Summary: Jaebum is lonely and frustrated. He has no friends, no family, and such a bad temper no one wants to go near him. Then one night, he receives a visit from his past...
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	1. A Visit From the Past

Jaebum kicked the door to his apartment closed and glared at the empty pizza box on the floor and the spot of mold in the corner of the ceiling. His internal neat freak was always put off by the slovenliness of the apartment, but his douchebag roommate just couldn’t seem to keep the place clean. Of course, the douchebag roommate was himself, but the truth was, he just didn’t have the time or a reason to clean and therefore, by default, no motivation. He had no friends to invite over, and was only ever home from the hours of one to five in the morning. Running a hand through his hair, he rummaged around in the fridge for yesterday’s unfinished takeout and brought it over to the couch, not even bothering to heat it up. His hair was getting long, maybe he should cut it. The very thought of the effort involved in trying to look for the scissors was enough to make him quickly abandon the idea.

What annoyed him the most, he decided, was the fact that he had the money for nicer things, and yet couldn’t use a single dime of it, since it was all illegal cash in various currencies and taking any of it anywhere to exchange it would be sure to cause suspicion. He was far too stubborn and proud to pay someone to exchange it for him, also illegally, partially because of the large cut he knew they would inevitably take but mostly because the idea of asking another human being for help was physically revolting to him….

He stood up and kicked the couch in frustration, a resounding thunk somewhat placating his mood. Jaebum had never been very good at controlling his temper; one of the reasons why he was so lonely. Everyone was afraid of him, even his own gang. And it was all because of that fucking temper. Every time anything went wrong he would swear and break things and destroy an entire room with bullet holes. No one would ever want to get close to someone like that, no matter how friendly they were. They followed him because he was a good leader, not because they liked him. Whenever he had one of his episodes, he would watch them all quietly leave and head out for drinks, without him, which just made him even angrier and lonelier. Rather like how he was feeling right now: angry and lonely. He slumped over in the couch and crossed his arms sullenly. Anger was all he had, all that had kept him alive on the streets; anger and bitterness, and if he was honest with himself, it was probably how he was going to die.

A sharp rap on his door followed by a few more startled him out of his haze of self pitying. Reaching for his gun and holding it behind his back, he approached the door and opened it cautiously, not undoing the deadbolt. As he opened it, he was hit with an overpowering smell of smoke and perfume, and standing thereat the door was someone he hadn’t seen in almost ten years. In fact, he had never wanted to see her she abandoned him on the steps of a temple: his mother. His lip curled up in a snarl of disgust as he surveyed her disheveled appearance. Even though she was nearly forty three, she still looked in her mid twenties due to her heavy makeup and skimpy outfit. She smiled that sickeningly sweet fake smile at him which made him want to throw up. The sight of her brought back memories he much rather would have liked to forget. The days spent wandering around the mall and watching the other kids play but being too scared to talk to them, while he waited for her to get hair extensions put in or something done to her face, or some things from a “naughty store” that he wasn’t allowed into. Not that she stopped him, but some ajumma had told him that and let him play a game of tic tack toe on the back of one of the checks in her checkbook, and so Jaebum had instinctively trusted her more than his mom. The nights were much worse. Curled up in the corner of some wreck of a house that was theoretically deemed unlivable, shivering due to lack of warm clothing, and flinching at every noise until he physically couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore.

“Jaebum honey!” even her voice made him cringe, “It’s so nice to see you again.”

He scoffed.

“Goodbye.” Came his curt reply as he tried to shut the door, but she stopped it with her heel.

“Honey I was wondering if you could do me just one last small favor?” Her smile widened and he could see the yellow stains on her teeth from years of smoking. She reeked of cigarettes.

“I said hell fucking no. Now piss off, the strip club is that way.”He waved the gun in her face and tried again to shut the door.

Unfazed, she huffed in frustration, loosing her patience.

“Look, just take the kid and you’ll never see me again.”

“I’m sorry, the _WHAT_?” Jaebum froze as she pulled a scrawny looking boy who couldn’t be more than seven from behind her and shoving him towards the door, smacking his hand off which still clung to her short leather skirt.

“Go with your brother, Shuyang.” She spoke sharply in what Jaebum assumed to be Chinese.

“Mom, what the actual fuck!? I can’t take him! I’m a gang leader, not a babysitter for fucks sake! And I—“ he protested angrily, shoving the gun into his back pocket and undoing the deadbolt, opening the door a bit more.

“Fine, then.” she cut him off, “Leave your brother out on the streets for all I care. I’ve put up with him for seven years.” She turned and began to walk away, swaying slightly from the height of her heels, and probably the amount of alcohol she had had.

The boy tried to run after her but she screamed something at him, and he abruptly sat down and burst into tears, burying his face in his hands.

Jaebum usually didn’t hit anybody unless they were attacking him, and ordinarily he would never approve of hitting one’s own mother, but seeing that skinny little kid with messy hair crying his eyes out on the ground sparked something inside him. Maybe it was for his own personal satisfaction; what he always wanted to do and never could, but he caught up to his mother in two steps, yanking her back by her hair and punching her square in her perfectly made up face.

“If I ever see you again, I’ll fucking shoot you dead.” He hissed, spitting venom with every word.

She fell down as soon as he let go of her hair, cradling her nose as blood seeped our through her fingers. He left her without a second thought and went directly to his brother, crouching down and holding out his hand. He guessed the kid spoke no Korean, which was going to be a problem, but right now it was cold and dark and the best course of action was probably to get him inside. Shuyang flinched away from his outstretched hand, and Jaebum sighed. Of course he was scared of him. Who wasn’t? He probably would have been too at that age. The only men he’d ever known were all less than savory characters: gang leaders, druggies, anyone who would pay. He fished around in his pocket and finally found what he was looking for, some candy he had confiscated from a fellow member the other day when the other had tried to replace the bullets in his gun with them. Wordlessly, he offered it to the boy, who looked at him hesitantly before snatching it out of his palm and grabbing onto his arm. His sobs had died down into sniffles and he looked at Jaebum with a look of pathetic resignation. Giving the kid what he thought was the kindest smile he could manage, he scooped him up and carried him inside, shutting and bolting the door behind him.

Shuyang passed out on the couch minutes after finishing the reheated noodles Jaebum had given him, curled up in a ball. The older stared at him for a minute before leaving and returning with a blanket and awkwardly tucking it around the sleeping form. He was now currently glaring at his phone contacts, trying to decide exactly how to text his gang member. There was no getting around it, he needed Jackson. Jaebum didn’t like admitting he needed anyone for anything, but the fact was, he couldn’t speak a word of Chinese, and Shuyang couldn’t speak a word of Korean. Fuck why was this so complicated?! Why the hell didn’t the kid know any Korean, where the fuck had he even come from? Was he really even his brother? He had to be, his mother would never voluntarily pick up a lost child on the streets.

“Agh what the fucking hell, mom.” He muttered quietly to himself, conscious of the tiny form next to him.

Finally he opened Jackson’s name in his contacts and hit new message.

To: Jackson

_Hey man, do you know Chinese?_

No. What the fuck of course Jackson knew Chinese. Try again. He deleted that and started over.

_Hey Jackson I got a favor to ask you._

Nah, no favors.

_Jackson, I need you for something._

There, that was good. Official, businesslike sounding...he was going to go with that. He hit send and tossed his phone to the side, exhaling slowly. Why him? He was not cut out to be an older brother. He had never interacted with a child in his entire life, unless Mark counted, but he was sixteen. This is why he never slept with people; he was afraid of responsibility. Not that being a gang leader wasn’t a responsibility, but all of his members were grown men who could make decisions for themselves even if they didn't act like it all the time. Taking responsibility for a kid? Fucking hell no, he was not taking responsibility for a kid. But then what was he supposed to do with him? The phone screen lit up and a dull vibration indicated Jackson had replied.

_Jackson: Sure boss what’s up?_

He probably had scared the shit out of the man and now poor Jackson was racking his brains trying to think of what he had done that Jaebum needed to chew him out for. What a reputation...

_Can you come over?_

No, he sounded like a needy girlfriend.

_My place, 10 min._

Better. Send.

A sharp rap came on the door almost exactly ten minutes later, the pattern exactly correct for it to be Jackson. Softly Jaebum got off the couch, trying to avoid too much movement, and opened the door. It suddenly hit him that it was nearly three in the morning and he had most likely woke his subordinate up, judging my the circles under his eyes and messy hair.

“What’s going on?” The taller male shivered in the cold night air despite his bomber jacket and Jaebum motioned for him to come in, locking the door again after him.

“Okay first off, you tell anyone about this and I’ll rip your head off. Secondly, I need to learn Chinese.” He whispered fiercely.

“Uh....what?” The other blinked at him, rubbing his eyes as if still trying to convince himself he wasn’t dreaming.

Jaebum heaved a sigh that was a cross between resignation and frustration.

“Fine. My Mom who I haven’t seen in ten years just dumped some kid off on me she says is my half brother but he only speaks Chinese, so do you see my problem?” The leader blurted out an abridged version of the entire story in one long run on sentence, playing with the rings on his hands nervously. Admitting he needed help made him nervous. This fucking KID made him nervous.

Jackson let out a low whistle.

“No Korean? Geez. What’s his name?”

“Seoyang?”

“Shuyang.” The other corrected, “Seoyang is the Korean version of it, but if you want to learn to communicate with him in Chinese, you may as well learn his name.”

Jackson crouched down beside the couch to get a better look at the sleeping boy, then glanced back at Jaebum, then back at the kid.

“He does look like you, you know.”

“Yeah, we are supposedly related.” Jaebum grunted.

There was awkward silence for a few minutes and Jackson glanced around the small apartment.

“You live alone then? Got no one?”

Jaebum shook his head and shrugged.

“Never had the time. And...I scare people.”

“Relatives?”

The older let out a bitter laugh.

“No idea who my dad is, and mom’s a stripper so basically no.”

“Sorry.”

More silence. Jaebum felt a bit bad and slightly uncomfortable. This was the longest conversation he had had with anyone in years. He could barely remember how to hold a conversation.

Suddenly, Shuyang shot up on the couch with a yell and Jackson immediately ran over to him speaking soothingly in the foreign tongue.

Jaebum stood there, not quite knowing what to do in the situation. He clasped and unclasped his hands behind his back. The two seemed to be talking earnestly about something, glancing at Jaebum every now and then, Shuyang nodding. In that moment, he’d never envied someone more than he envied Jackson. The man was so damn charismatic, he knew everyone and had connections everywhere. Everyone liked him. Jaebum couldn’t do any of that, and people just avoided talking directly with him unless they had to.

“He says he had a nightmare, and asked where he was, so I told him you’re his brother and he’ll be staying with you now.” Jackson translated.

Damn Jackson was so naturally good with children…

“Um, what did he...what was the nightmare about?” Jaebum was genuinely curious.

He figured he should probably know what the kid was afraid of so he could reassure him more easily, there being a high probability of this happening frequently.

Jackson nodded briefly and turned back to the young boy on the couch, who was now sitting up, wrapped in Jaebum’s fluffy blue blanket.

“He wants to know what your nightmare was about.”

Shuyang gave his brother a look before biting his thumb nervously, glancing around.

“Ghosts. They always come for me in the dark. I don’t like the dark.”

“Ghosts?” Jaebum sat down slowly on the couch, reaching an arm around the younger’s shivering form as soon as Jackson told him.

“I used to see them all the time, in the alleys. Scary shadows, they’d come for me, but I never let them. I brought a flashlight so I could scare them away. They don’t like light.” The boy looked at him with wide eyes, clutching at his shirt with tiny fists.

“Jackson....”

“He says—“

“It’s okay, you don’t need to translate.” Jaebum cut him off quietly. “Just tell him…tell him…I won’t let the ghosts get him anymore.”

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, leaning back as Shuyang glued himself to his side, practically crawling into his lap to snuggle closer.

“Good God Jackson, what has this kid been through?” He muttered under his breath.

“I don’t know. The streets of China can be pretty rough, we don’t know where he’s been or what he’s seen. A seven year old out alone in an alley? Fuck.” Jackson sat down cross legged on the ground.

“Don’t I know it.” Jaebum grit out, clenching his jaw, trying to prevent any more memories from coming back

“Jackson” Jaebum spoke after a long pause, the only other sound being Shuyang’s whimpers as he hid his face in the older’s shirt.

“Mmm?”

“Uh, thank you.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.”

“First lesson.” Jackson announced, making Jaebum start out of his doze. “Basic phrases.”

“Wait wait, it’s like 4AM. I can’t learn anything at 4AM!” His leader protested, shaking his head vigorously.

“Imagine What he’s feeling! And he’s seven! You’ll be fine, let’s go. First lesson.”

Jackson said something in Chinese and Jaebum stared at him blankly.

“Too late I already died of hunger.”

“How was I supposed to know?! You should have made a sign!” The older whisper yelled.

“Oh, so you’re going to blame the seven year old for starving because he doesn’t speak your language? Real honorable, Jaebum hyung.”

“Real what?” Jaebum wrinkled his nose at the foreign word.

“Real fuckin shitty!” Jackson mocked.

“Oh I know the words fuck and shit in Chinese and that ain’t them.” Jaebum snarked back.

“Oh so you DO know some Chinese! And only swears? Coincidental! How’d you learn those now Im Jaebum?” the younger smirked.

“Oh fuck OFF! Now, what did you say before that meant I’m hungry?” Jaebum sighed defeatedly and rubbed his temples.

Jackson was a rather relentless tutor, but after an hour, Jaebum indicated he was done with the lesson by flinging an empty beer bottle at the wall with a yell. The other flinched as it shattered and set his jaw, falling silent.

“I’m done.” Jaebum huffed in a milder tone after clenching and unclenching his fists.

“I can tell.”

Jaebum looked at him sharply. Jackson was perhaps the only person who didn’t have to be afraid of him. If it ever came down to a fight, Jackson would win. Realistically. The man was built like a brick and worked out religiously, Jaebum was tall and lean, and was more proficient with weapons than combat. If Jackson wanted to, he could have put Jaebum in a chokehold and snapped his neck, but the Chinese man was just too nice.

“I think I’m going to go sleep now, hyung.” He raised an eyebrow and grabbed the keys to his bike he had left on the coffee table.

Jaebum nodded, already feeling his eyelids struggle to stay open. His arm was still wrapped around Shuyang who had completely settled into his lap and had fallen back asleep with his face in Jaebum’s neck. He could feel the small breaths. A wave of fear of responsibility hit him again as Jackson closed the door behind him; he had to take care of this kid. As in feed and talk to and....raise. He grimaced.

“I’m gonna take care of you, kiddo.” He promised, patting the younger’s back awkwardly.

“Shu-yang” his tongue strained at the foreign pronunciation.

He drifted off still on the couch.


	2. Day One

He woke the next morning with a start, seeing Shuyang staring at him with wide eyes.

“Hi big brother.” He gave a small smile. He was missing a few teeth.

At least, that was what Jaebum assumed he said from what he remembered of his lessons earlier this morning.

“Hi.” He patted Shuyang’s hair and the other closed his eyes happily.

“I’m hungry ge.” He opened his eyes again a few seconds later and announced.

Jaebum gave him a thumbs up and made motions with his hands for him to get up so he could stand.

When he opened his fridge, Jaebum was hit once again with yet another realization as he stared at the expired sauces and half empty boxes of days old takeout: he had no food and extremely unhealthy eating habits.

“Gotta go shopping.” He mumbled as Shuyang looked at him, expectantly.

“Come, Shuyang.” holding out his hand, which the other took, he decided he would walk down the street to where there was that damn bakery for some ungodly reason. It was owned by Seokjin, who was nice, a good cook and had reasonable prices.

“Where are we going?” Shuyang asked, but since Jaebum didn’t really know what he said, he didn’t reply, just tugged him towards the door.

Shuyang was underfed and needed a hair cut, dark scraggly hair hanging in his eyes. His clothes, which consisted of a dark blue Spider-Man hoodie, a white t-shirt with ripped jeans and sneakers, fit him alright, but it was clear he’d lost weight since he got them. His face was pale and he had an already noticeable habit of chewing on his lips as well as a large bruise on his temple. Jackson was right though, the resemblance was obviously there.

Shuyang held on tightly to Jaebum’s hand as they walked, pressing into the older man’s side,starting at every single noise and gazing around with big eyes. He shied away every time they passed blinking neon signs or an alleyway, and Jaebum felt disgusted, thinking of all the times he had probably sat huddled in one of them, hiding from thugs and waiting for his disaster of a mother to come stumbling out eight hours later. He should offer him a shower when they got home….but food first.

The boy glanced curiously at the yellow building with some faded hangul scrawled across the front, looking up at Jaebum.

“Food?”

Jaebum nodded, pulling open the door. The bakery always smelled pleasant, the soft aroma of coffee combined with the sweet smell of pastries, and Jin always had flowers on the table which Jaebum never figured out where he got. Apparently this had been in Jin’s family for years and used to be a foreign tourist spot before this part of the city had turned bad.

“Yo Seokjin!” He called.

The man himself appeared around the corner, tying on his apron. Seokjin was in his mid-twenties, and had a likable face, a feature most people who lived in the area did not possess.

“Im Jaebum? You haven’t been in for a while—Who’s this?” Jin stopped short on seeing Shuyang, who hid behind his brother.

“He....doesn’t speak Korean. And he’s afraid of like, everything.” Jaebum explained, pulling the kid from behind him and sitting him down in a booth.

“Who is he?”

“My half brother. My revolting mother dumped him off on me last night.” The man scowled. “At least she had the decency to not abandon him on the streets.”

Jin frowned.

“I see. Want breakfast?”

“Please.”

Yet another feature Jin was blessed with was the ability to sense when someone just didn’t want to talk about something. He didn’t press the topic or ask any more annoying questions, just stood up and shuffled off into the kitchen to bring them something.

As they waited for breakfast, Jaebum watched his brother’s eyes dart every which way, taking in his surroundings. It made him happy that after a few minutes, the kid’s shoulders visibly relaxed and he traced his finger along the patterns of the seat cushion. He mumbled some words to himself in Chinese, jumping a little when Jin places a steaming bowl in front of him. His eyes flew open wide as eggs, and he practically fell over when he saw the food, and Jaebum tired not to think about when his last decent meal he hadn’t found in a garbage can was.

“For me?” He asked shyly, pointing at the food.

“Yours.” Jaebum nodded with a smile.

Shuyang gasped and just about inhaled it.

“So Jaebum.” Jin sat down next to him as he picked at his food, watching Shuyang eat. “Namjoon’s been worried about you. He says you’re becoming a recluse.”

The other sighed and pinched his nose. Kim Namjoon could shove his worries up his own ass for all he cared, but Jin was attached and Jaebum would never say that to his face.

“That’s true, I am. I have no friends, no life except the gang…I’m a failure, Seokjin, I can’t take care of this kid! I came here because I actually had no food in my fridge but three day old takeout. I can’t...” He wavered a bit, trying to find what to say “I can’t be what he needs.”

Jin listened to him placidly while sipping on his coffee, humming quietly.

“Jaebum, I think you’re underselling yourself.” He watched as Shuyang started on the second plate of food. “You said he was out on the streets until now? Already you’re doing better than that, you’re giving him a house, better clothes, food and hopefully, a shower. But more importantly, you’re giving him something he’s never had before: love. If you give him even a quarter more than the love your mother showed him, you’re already head and shoulders above what he’s had.”

“This is good!” Shuyang smiled, his prominent missing tooth evident in his grin.

“He says it’s good.” Jaebum translated, feeling pleased with himself.

“I’m glad.”

“Shuyang, Seokjin.” He pointed between the two and Jin bowed slightly.

“Hi, thank you for breakfast, Seokjin ge!” Shuyang tapped the empty dish in front of him.

“He says thank you.”

“He’s cute, Jaebum. You better take good care of him.” Jin smiled fondly.

“I’m going to have him take a bath when we get back to the apartment.”

“A good start. You should also go shopping and buy more food so you don’t have to come here and he doesn’t eat takeout all the time.” Jin gave the younger man a look.

“Okay okay. I’ll ask....I don’t know I’ll ask Jinyoung or something. He’s good at cooking.” Jaebum mumbled.

“You don’t seem like you’re looking forward to this.”the brunet stood to take the dishes away.

“I—“

Jaebum was interrupted buy Shuyang jumping up in a flash and snatching the bowls before Jin could get to them and clearing them away as the two older men just stared.

“I’ll help?” he blinked up at Jin, who looked to the cat-eyed man in the corner for a translation.

“He wants to help you…I think? I dunno man, just show him where they go if he insists.” the gang leader shrugged, watching as Jin placed a hand gently on Shuyang’s back, guiding him into the kitchen.

Jaebum sighed deeply, hauling out his phone again for the second time, forced to ask someone for help. He wasn’t going to enjoy this. Jinyoung was also the last person he wanted to admit he needed help to. They had gotten in a bad argument about a week ago, and both were refusing to apologize to each other. No, he decided, he wouldn’t ask Jinyoung for help. No way in hell. Jackson it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love GOT7 and Boystory okay, I've loved Boystory since they debuted. And then Jackson collabed with them and if you weren't biasing him already, seeing him interact with kiddos and exhibiting peak husband material behavior should definitely do it. TT_TT


	3. Shopping

Jackson was more than willing to help, mainly just as an excuse to see Shuyang again, Jaebum suspected. It was hard not to love him, he thought as the kid held his hand, swinging his arm and pointing at food and asking “what is that?” five hundred times.

“Ge, what’s that stuff?” he pointed excitedly to some colorfully wrapped candy.

“You don’t need any more candy, Shyuang.” Jackson translated Jaebum’s head shake.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” he tugged on Jaebum’s leather jacket with his other hand.

“Okay, kiddo, it’s fine.”

Geez, he didn’t have to apologize for everything like he was gonna get kicked in the head—oh wait.

A woman two aisles down glared at the trio and turned, hurrying away with her cart in the other direction. He scoffed.

“Bitch.” he mumbled.

“Bitch.” Shuyang agreed.

“Hey, hold on, don’t say that!” Jaebum gave the younger boy’s hand a squeeze, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“But you said it!” Shyuang protested.

“Kid’s got a point. He says you said it.” Jackson was trying to hold back his laughter.

“Jackson you fucker—oop!” Jaebum covered his mouth while his friend grew red in the face from holding in his laughter.

“Who does he fuck?” Shyuang asked, making both Jackson and Jaebum whip their heads towards him with horrified looks in their eyes, their laughter immediately dying away.

“Uhhh where’d you learn that?” Jackson demanded.

“Mom.” Shuyang shrugged. “I used to think my name was fuck.” he laughed a bit.

“Shuyang, I want you to forget everything mom ever told you.” was what Jaebum wanted to say, but he had no idea how to convey that to his younger brother. Instead he just shook his head and grabbed onto his brother tighter, pulling him close. Shuyang happily hugged him back, and Jaebum gave him a piece of candy as they left the store.

It was about a week later in the evening when Jaebum was sitting on the couch letting Shuyang play with the rings on his hands. He was mentally and physically exhausted, barely able to keep himself awake. He stayed up at night, watching over Shuyang, thinking about the fact that he was now responsible for giving him a better life than he’d had. Jackson was helping, and slowly, Jaebum’s Chinese was getting marginally better. Maybe he should teach Shyuang Korean? He was pretty sure the kid was already picking up a few words here and there. His eyes had just begun to close again when his phone rang. It was Jinyoung. Jinyoung would call him considering the terms they were on unless it was about business, so he answered.

“Jaebum, Bangtan finally paid us their half of the agreement, we wanted the go ahead to move forward.” he left out the honorific, and his voice was cold.

“Yeah you’ve got it.” Jaebum replied. He didn’t want to admit exactly how much it hurt that pretty much his only friend besides now maybe Jackson refused to even acknowledge him anymore. Maybe he had been too hard on the man, pushed him too far away. Like he did with everyone else. “I’ll be waiting when you come back.”

“Perfect.”

Beep. The tone indicated the other had hung up and the leader ran a hand through his hair, rubbing his temples.

“Shuyang, come.” he motioned to his younger brother, who clambered off the couch and towards him, following Jaebum out the door like a devoted puppy.

Jaebum pulled back a tarp under which he hid his motorcycle and Shyuang’s eyes lit up at the sight. He ran a finger over its shiny black and red detailing. This purchase was the one risk Jaebum had taken, gathering the guts to go up to Changmin himself and buy it off of him. It had made his seventeen year old self feel so accomplished he had spent the rest of the night showing off and doing donuts in an abandoned parking lot. He understood Shuyang’s wonder. Swinging a leg over, he pointed to the small seat behind him, indicating he wanted Shuyang to climb on. At this, the younger mumbled something in Chinese like he usually did when he saw something that amazed him, before practically throwing himself onto the bike and grabbing a fistful of Jaebum’s leather jacket with both hands.

“Hang on, kid.” was all he said, placing the smaller handson his waist with his own, not even half sure if Shuyang had understood, before he revved the engine.

The instant he started driving, a million fears began to gnaw at his mind. Shuyang wasn’t wearing a helmet. What if he thought the motorcycle noise was too loud? What if it damaged his ears? What if he fell off?! Jaebum was pretty sure this was the most careful he had ever been driving, he never went over 45mph and took all the back ways where there were no other bikes or cars. What the fuck was this feeling? Caution? That wasn’t it, he had been cautious before, during missions or deals. Fear? Maybe, but it didn’t feel like the other times he’d been afraid…it was a warm sort of feeling, whereas fear was cold. Did he _care_? Jaebum couldn’t even remember the last time he’d cared about something, if he’d ever even cared at all. He decided that he both hated and loved the feeling. Shit.

“Where’s this?” Shyuang asked, hanging on Jaebum’s elbow and pointing at the hideout as the two walked towards the hidden entrance.

“Uhhh…” Jaebum thought of how best to explain considering he didn’t know the words gang or hideout in Chinese.

“A…place…?” came the vague, sheepish reply as he laughed nervously.

He removed Shuyang from his arm for a minute as he fumbled with a few strategically placed boards before pulling back a trap door and pointing.

“In.”

Shyuang stepped back and shook his head, wrapping his arms around himself. Shit he’d scared him. Jaebum hopped in first, then held out his arms to Shuyang.

“Its OK.” he smiled.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Shuyang took a step forward, then another, then another, his light up shoes sparkling.

“Are there ghosts, ge?” his eyes were wide and fixed on a point behind Jaebum.

“No ghosts.” the elder shook his head as he pulled Shuyang into a hug, “No ghosts.”

He pulled the door shut behind him and nearly collapsed onto the couch. He was safer here than he was at home, the others would be back soon…if he could just….close his eyes…for fifteen minutes….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry my chapter titles are the most unoriginal things ever LMAO


	4. The Gang

“Jinyoung, you should just apologize to Jaebum hyung.” Jackson was saying as they approached the hideout.

Jinyoung snorted and pursed his lips.

“He should apologize to me. It was his fault anyway. He’s being so stubborn and proud I can’t stand it.”

“Look, Jinyoung hyung, Jaebum hyung seems stubborn and proud, I get it, but he’s…I feel like he’s not what you all think. He’s….I think he’s lonely.” Jackson frowned, putting a hand on Jinyoung’s shoulder before they entered.

“Look, Jackson, I know you have the best intentions, but…you don’t know Jaebum.” the older shook his head and turned away.

The others had gone in before, but instead of rowdy joking, there was dead silence, with some sporadic murmurs. Jackson and Jinyoung pushed past the others to see what they were looking at only to see Jaebum lying on the couch, asleep, with a pale scrawny kid curled up on his lap, also asleep.

“What the f—“ Jinyoung stopped short, jaw dropping in disbelief.

“Holy shit is it _his_?!” that came from the Thai member, “Funny, he didn’t strike me to be that type of guy. He’s got such a stick up his ass, didn’t think there would be room for anything else.”

“Bambam… what the fresh fuck?” Youngjae elbowed his fellow member in the side with a horrified look his face.

“Just sayin!” the older defended himself.

“Shut up everyone, you’re going to wake him up.” Jackson ordered suddenly in a stern tone that shocked everyone.

“He hasn’t slept in like a week because of this kid, and no, its not his,” he shot Bambam a pointed glare, “that’s his brother. Half brother. So either get the fuck out or fucking let them sleep and pipe down.”

Jackson commanded the most respect out of anyone in the gang besides Jaebum, not because of his mannerisms, as it was for the former, but because of his strength. He was taller and stronger than all of them, and he’d already broken Bambam’s nose once. Possibly twice. Mercifully, though, he did not have Jaebum’s temper. He practically shoved the group back out the way they had come, dragging Bambam, who seemed dead set on taking a picture.

“Jackson,” Jinyoung’s hand was on his arm, guiding him away from the others. “Can I talk with you?”

“Mmm.”

“How long has this been going on?” the older asked. “How long have you known?”

“Since last week. His mom dumped the kid off on him, Jaebum hyung called me because Shuyang doesn’t speak any Korean.” Jackson rubbed the back of his neck nervously under Jinyoung’s stare.

The other man was silent for a while, frowning slightly. Finally, he sighed.

“Why didn’t he just…tell us? Tell me?”

“Maybe it’s because he wanted to talk to someone who doesn’t insist on being right all the time, Jinyoung.” Jackson snapped irritably before he softened again. “Jaebum hyung is stubborn, I know that, you know that, we all know that, and sometimes he can be mean and have a horrible temper. But he’s a good guy, and maybe if you got over yourself and apologized for once in your life, you two could go back to being friends.”

“I know Jaebum is stubborn!” Jinyoung nearly shouted, running his hands through his hair as his voice cracked. “I know! I just hoped he…cared enough to make things right.”

“You already know he does, hyung. Do you?”

Jinyoung set his jaw, eyes clouding over as he warred with himself. Pushing past Jackson, he threw open the door to the hideout again, disappearing down the stairs before anyone could stop him.

“No one dare follow him.” Jackson ordered.

No one would have “dared” anyway even if he hadn’t said it, but it felt appropriate.

Jinyoung stumbled down the stairs blindly, pushing down the lump in his throat. He stopped at the bottom, standing for a long time watching his leader sleep with some kid on his lap. He hadn’t known Jaebum for very long, the man had just showed up one day, with those cat eyes and sharp cheekbones that could have landed him a modeling job if he ever crawled out of the dumpster. Jaebum was very private about his past, and Jinyoung was surprised he had even told Jackson as much as he did. But what he didn’t know about Jaebum in that respect, he made up for in the fact that personality wise, he knew Jaebum better than he knew himself. Strategies, strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, everything; and yet, he could never in a million years have pictured the young man as an older brother figure. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward to lay a hand gently on Jaebum’s shoulder, when the child curled up against him muttered something in Chinese and shook his head before grabbing harder onto Jaebum’s shirt. This movement caused Jaebum to jolt awake.

“Shuyang, are you okay?” he held his brother’s face between his hands, scanning him with a worried look.

“Mmhmm. Please don’t leave me.” Shuyang nodded whimpering.

“No! Never!” Jaebum shook his head emphatically, locking eyes with him. “You got that?”

Another nod.

Jaebum turned suddenly to Jinyoung, who had withdrawn to a corner. The two stared at each other for a long time, before Jinyoung lowered his eyes.

“I’m sorry, hyung.”

There was a long silence until Shuyang sneezed, and startled both of them.

“Yeah, me too.”

“You could have told me, hyung. I would have been there.” he continued, stepping forward. Shyuang retreated behind his brother, hanging onto his leather jacket. “I know you can’t cook.” his voice cracked a bit and Jaebum just nodded, not trusting his voice.

“When was the last time you ate?”

“Jinyoung….just shut up.” Jaebum choked out.

“Oh get over here, idiot.” Jinyoung gave his leader a quick hug. “I know you’re a big softie.” he whispered in the other’s ear.

Jackson had discreetly poked his head in to make sure that the two hadn’t murdered each other, and quickly backed out again once he saw things were alright.

“So who is this?” Jinyoung knelt down and held out a hand to Shuyang who blinked at him.

“Shuyang, this is Jinyoung ge.” Jaebum introduced in Chinese, and Shuyang nodded, taking the hand tentatively.

“Hi.” he said in broken Korean.

“Wow! This is the first time he’s spoken in Korean to anyone!” Jaebum looked at his younger brother proudly.

“Good?” he asked, grinning up at the older.

“Yeah.”

Jinyoung gave Jaebum a look that conveyed a sentiment of “holy fuck he’s adorable”.

“So tell me, have you been feeding him instant ramen and takeout for a week?” he continued, ushering Jaebum back over the couch and patting his lap to invite Shuyang to sit, which he happily did.

“I’ll have you know I’ve been bringing him over to Seokjin’s, thank you very much.” Jaebum huffed in mock hurt, smirking.

“Oh. Well, that’s okay then. But from now on, I’m cooking. I’m one of the best cooks around!” he announced proudly to Shuyang, who he realized probably didn’t understand, but looked excited anyway. Kid must be good at picking up cues.

“I’d be…really grateful actually. That was the first decent sleep I got in about a week.” Jaebum admitted, passing a hand across his forehead.

“So, what’s the deal with him anyway?” Jinyoung was letting Shuyang look at his rather expensive watch.

“Mom works at strip clubs, she bounces around. I’m honestly surprised she even kept both myself and Shuyang. But she showed up a week ago and dumped him on me. Said she’d leave him in the street if I wouldn’t take him.” he glanced at Shuyang, who wasn’t listening and couldn’t understand anyway. “He’s pretty messed up, he has nightmares and is convinced he sees ghosts. I think she’d just leave him out in the alleyways all night.”

“Shit!” Jinyoung breathed, closing his eyes.

Shuyang’s hand flew up and covered Jinyoungs as he gave him a disapproving stare.

“Jaebum ge says we shouldn’t say that.” he told the older solemnly in Chinese.

Jinyoung looked at Jaebum bewildered while the other laughed loudly, clutching at his stomach.

“You tell him, Shuyang.” he snorted.

“He says you should watch your language.” he explained, waggling his eyebrows at Jinyoung.

“Okay, Okay, Jaebum hyung, introduce your son to the rest of us already!”

Jaebum groaned at the loud entrance of Bambam, who dragged the rest of the younger rowdy crew along with him, despite Mark and Jackson’s best efforts to restrain them.

“Okay, first of all, Bambam, he’s not my son, he’s my little brother. Secondly, not so loud, you’ll scare him.” he scolded, standing up and guiding Shuyang towards the group.

“Ooooh hyung he’s so cute! Did you look like that when you were little too?” Youngjae cooed, ruffling Shuyang’s hair who surprisingly was not trying to hide from the multiple pairs of strange eyes.

“What’s his name? How old is he? Jackson hyung said he’s half Chinese and doesn’t speak Korean?” Yugeom’s usual barrage of questions started. “Nice light up shoes, by the way kiddo. Can he understand that? Translate that for me, Jackson hyung.”

Bambam was uncharacteristically quiet and he got down on Shuyang’s level and looked him in the eye, taking both his small hands in his larger ones.

“Hi. I’m Bambam.” he smiled and Shuyang wrinkled his nose as he grinned, very pleased.

“My name is Shuyang. Hi Bambam.”

“I like your shirt.” Bambam pointed to the younger’s shirt, indicated what he meant. Shuyang’s grin broadened and he turned to point to Jaebum.

“Jaebum ge got me.” he told the other man, struggling to pronounce the Korean.

Jaebum noticed this exchange going on and came to stand beside Shuyang.

“I like Bambam!” he announced to his brother, hugging onto Bambam’s arm.

Bambam looked smugly at the rest who were stupefied at his sudden ability with children.

“Since when did you become world’s finest babysitter?” Yugeom folded his arms.

“Oh yeah, I’m the world’s fiiiiiinest babysitter. Hell yeah!” Bambam winked, running a hand through his hair seductively.

“Yeah yeah, shut up and give me my brother.” Jaebum pulled Shyuang back towards him.

“You mean your son.” Bambam cackled. “I don’t believe he’s your brother. It’s too easy.”

“Bambam, when the hell would I have had time to…to….”

“Oooooookay!” Jinyoung interrupted, shoving Bambam hard. “Who wants some food? To celebrate our successful mission?”

There was a chorus of “me”s and a stampede of excited young men. Shuyang, instead of shrinking behind Jaebum, seemed relaxed and comfortable, something that Jaebum was happy about. He’d seen the kid become considerably more comfortable. His eyes weren’t so wide and frightened, and he didn’t flinch at every noise. Even in the short span of a week, his clothes seemed to be hanging better off of him, and he was sleeping better.

It was kind of inexplicable how or why Shuyang had connected with Bambam of all people, even more so than Jackson. Jaebum was almost regretful, because the Thai boy could be annoying and boisterous at times, but somehow, he felt that it was just what Shuyang needed. He sighed as he followed the group into the back.


	5. Attack

“That’s not possible!” Jaebum slammed his fist down on the table, making the rest of them jump.

Days like these, Yugeom wanted to hide under the table. Although during the course of the month Shuyang had mellowed him out a bit, his temper still flared up when he was stressed or frustrated. The crash of a chair echoed in the room as the man in question hurled it against the wall.

“Bang Yongguk was a nobody three months ago and now suddenly he’s somehow got a deal with Kwon Jiyong himself? How on earth did he pull that off?!” the leader continued.

“He shouldn’t have been able to pull the job off at all.” Jinyoung commented, mostly hoping to placate the elder.

“Maybe…maybe he’d be interested in forming an alliance?” Youngjae spoke up timidly, “I mean, if they’re that good, maybe—“ he trailed off, loosing courage.

Jaebum sat down, resting his elbows on his knees, still breathing a bit hard in his attempt to calm down.

“Alright. I’m going to talk to Bang.” he spoke finally.

“Have you ever talked to Bang before?” Jinyoung seemed wary of the proposal.

“No, but—“

“I’ve heard rumors about him.” Bambam chimed in with a hushed voice “People have seen him in two places at once. Some think he’s a demon or something. Also, they say he’s got ties to the Yakuza.”

“Okay, very encouraging.” Jackson rolled his eyes and smacked the top of the younger’s head.

“You really believe all that nonsense, Bam?” Yugeom snorted.

“Well he’s scary! So…I don’t know, maybe!” the younger became defensive and crossed his arms sullenly.

“I’m not afraid of him.” Jaebum declared. “I just have to—“ he glanced over to where Shuyang was sleeping on the couch before he felt his heart stop.

Shuyang was gone.

He’d woken up to yelling; Jaebum’s yelling specifically. It reminded him of one of the men who used to come to his house a lot. He was tall with sharp cheekbones, he was pretty sure it was his dad, but he couldn’t remember very well. All he did remember was there was always a lot of yelling, so he used to climb out the window and sit in the alley outside. It always smelled really bad, but at least he had a few stray cats that came up to him. He loved cats. So he did the same thing now; ran out to the alley way. This one smelled considerably better, and he only wished for a nice mangey looking orange cat to pet. He wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his head on top of them, staring down the alleyway to the light at the end, steam from various vents swirling around. Shuyang decided he didn’t like it, he kept imagining the vapor taking various forms which floated menacingly towards him before being blown away by the wind. There was shouting in the distance and he winced; that meant there were other people around. He should probably hide.

“Shuyang! Holy shit there you are!” Jaebum ran towards him and practically smothered him in a hug. “I thought I’d lost you. Please don’t ever leave again.” he whispered, a few tears falling.

“You shouted and I got scared. I remember a man who used to shout all the time. I didn’t like him, he wasn’t nice.” Shuyang shrugged as a way of explanation, before wrapping his arms around his brother’s neck, felling safer now that the older was no longer yelling.

Jaebum picked him up and carried him inside.

“I found him, it’s fine. He was just out in the alleyway.”

The group breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jaebum ge?” Shuyang whispered in his brother’s ear. “I heard voices. I think bad people are out there.”

“Uh can you tell Jackson?” Jaebum motioned the Chinese member over.

“Bad people?”

“Uh, Shuyang, what do you mean?” Jaebum put him down on the couch and sat next to him.

“I heard voices out there.” Shuyang repeated.

Jaebum didn’t reply, just set his jaw.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” he looked a bit disappointed, and Jaebum felt bad.

“It’s not that…” he began before Shuyang cut him off.

“I’m sorry ge, I guess I just got scared.” he said sadly, more to Jackson than Jaebum.

“I believe you, Shuyang.” he told the disappointed child on the tattered sofa. “Come here, lets go outside and see if there are still bad people out there.”

Shuyang hopped off the couch and took Bambam’s outstretched hand, and walked towards the door before Jaebum stuck his arm out.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Relax, hyung, we’ll come right back in.” the younger answered, keeping his voice calm, hearing a rise in his leader’s voice.

“Loose him and you loose your eyes.” came the reply as the arm dropped.

Shuyang dutifully led Bambam to the back alley and pointed to the end of it, bathed in moonlight.

“They were over there.” he said solemnly.

“Huh.” Bambam squinted at the place. The steam could take on a lot of weird shapes for a kid in the dark, he figured.

Suddenly, he stiffened, hearing a cat yowl suddenly. Looking back again, he yanked Shuyang behind a dumpster, covering his mouth and pulling him close. _That_ was not a shadow. That was a man, and definitely not someone he wanted to see. He recognized the figure: Leo. VIXX had been prowling around their hideout for a few weeks now, and it had made Jaebum nervous. In fact, their leader was planning a trap for the the next time they came back, but none of them had ever expected this so soon. Bambam held his breath and quietly scooted back even more into the shadows, shielding Shuyang with his arm, who was desperately trying to see what was going on. He squeezed his eyes shut as two of them passed by, surrounding the front door. Bambam felt for his phone to warn Jaebum, only to have his blood run cold as he realized he left it inside. Fuck fuck fuck! The door was kicked in with a crash and there was yelling. Several shots made him jump, holding onto Shuyang tightly as the boy squirmed and whimpered, hiding his face in Bambam’s shirt.

“Oh god…” he whispered.

His heart was pounding and he fought back tears. He wanted to rush down and help, but if he left Shuyang, there was no telling what would happen to him. He’d been abandoned too many times by too many, and Bambam was not about to be another.

“Ge….” Shuyang sniffled, reaching out pathetically, making Bambam’s eyes snap open.

Jaebum’s unconscious form was being dragged out between Leo and N, blood dripping from his nose. The Thai member breathed a small sigh of relief; at least he wasn’t dead. But what about the others?! He waited until the group had passed, heard the door to a vehicle shut somewhere and the van start up and drive away with a screech. And still he waited.

One.

Two.

Three.

“Eight….Nine…..Ten!” he leaped up, and Shuyang along with him, bolting towards the door and sprinting down the stairs.

“Jinyoung! Youngjae! Yugeom! Jackson! Mark!” he screamed, bursting into the room.

There were several bullet holes in the walls, and the five men were lying in various spots, clearly having been surprised with blows to the head. Shuyang sat down on the floor and covered his eyes, starting to cry.

“Hey, Shuyang, don’t cry. We’re going to wait for them to wake up, and then we’re going to go find—“ he paused, seeing a red ribbon waving in the slight draft coming form the open door.

On moving closer, he found it was attached to a knife embedded into the wall, holding up a piece of paper. It had VIXX’s signature stamp on it, and it was written in scrawly handwriting.

_You’re lucky we don’t hurt kids, Kunpimook. Shame to let his big brother die. 5,000,000W or Jaebum goes._

__

_-Hakyeon_

Bambam crumpled the note and threw it against the opposite wall with extreme force swearing in Thai. He kept the knife, though. It was a switchblade, which happened to be very hard to get a hold of.

“Bambam?” Shuyang whimpered, “Are they going to hurt Jaebum?”

Sighing, the older boy’s shoulders dropped and he walked slowly over to where his leader’s younger brother was crumpled on the floor, arms wrapped around himself. He hesitated before speaking, deciding on whether to tell the kid the truth or not.

“Probably, Shuyang.” he spoke finally. “But we’re going to do something about it, alright? I just need to think.”

_And 50,000,000W,_ he mumbled under his breath, low enough so Shuyang couldn’t hear.

It was probably about ten minutes that the two sat on the floor together, Shuyang having finally stopped crying and fallen asleep, Bambam clutching him in one arm, and holding a gun in the other hand, watching the now open door like a hawk, thinking. A groan to his left made him jump before he relaxed, realizing it was just Mark coming to. He rushed over to him, gently laying Shuyang down on the ground.

“Mark-ah! Are you okay?” his voice was high pitched and panicky, making Mark wince.

“Not so loud…my head hurts…” the brunet mumbled, sitting up with a bit of difficulty. “Where’s Jaebum hyung?!” his sudden movement made him stop and clutch his head again. “Ah….we were attacked…”

“They took hyung. VIXX took Jaebum hyung.” Bambam reached out to touch the trickle of blood that had started down Mark’s forehead before Mark swatted him away.

“It’s okay. Doesn’t hurt too bad.”

He did, however, give in to the older’s insisting and let him tie a bandana around it. He scooted over to Youngjae while Bambam inspected Yugeom. Still breathing. Jackson was as well. Something red caught Bambam’s eye as he was trying to haul Yugeom onto the couch. He stopped and did a double take before screaming. He didn’t mean to scream. The red he had seen was blood, and it belonged to Jinyoung. It was slowly creating a red stain on the young man’s white tee shirt. His breathing was labored and his face was sweating, dark hair sticking to it.

“Holy fuck they shot Jinyoung!!”

None of them had ever been shot before. They had had a few close calls, but nothing had ever actually happened, at least not like this. The wound was in his left shoulder. Bambam wished Jackson would just wake up already. Wounds and stuff were his thing. He was scared and his heart was pounding, but Jinyoung would probably die if they didn’t do anything.

“Hey, get me something I can stop the bleeding with.” Mark put a hand on his shoulder in a quiet, firm voice.

The younger scampered off and returned moments later with a clean shirt. Mark inspected it and deemed it good enough, nodding his thanks as he silently began to work on applying pressure to the wound. Bambam sprinted over to Jackson and slapped him hard in the face.

“Jackson hyung! Jackson hyung wake up! Jinyoung hyung is dying!!”

Shuyang started awake from all the noise, and sat looking wide eyed and stunned.

Luckily, Jackson’s eyes slowly opened and he raised a hand to them.

“Ugh, Bam…stop yelling.”

“Jinyoung got shot and he’s bleeding.” Mark announced, much calmer than Bambam, who was bouncing on his heels and looking between the two older members expectantly.

“He what?!” Jackson shook off his pounding headache, catching sight of Jinyoung in the corner.

“Here.” Mark moved aside and began searching the medical supply cabinet for some advil.

Jackson pressed down hard, and Jinyoung twitched and cried out.

“Jinyoung! Hey, hyung, can you hear me?”

There was a weak nod.

“Okay, good. The bullet’s not in you.” he concluded after feeling the underside of the arm and the exit wound, wrapping the shirt tightly around it to keep him from bleeding out. “I’m going to put you on the couch.”

Mark lifted Yugeom off the couch and stuck a pillow under his head as Jackson carried Jinyoung over to it and laid him down.

Shuyang had shoved his way under Bambam’s arm and cuddled against his chest, sniffling.

“I miss ge.” he whispered.

Youngjae and Yugeom were starting to wake up as well by the time Jackson gave Jinyoung some painkillers, covered him with a blanket, and announced that he would probably be fine; but now they needed to focus on other things, like getting Jaebum back. Bambam retrieved the crumpled piece of paper from the corner where he had thrown it and showed it to Jackson, since he was the second in command after Jinyoung.

“50,000,000W?! That’s crazy!” he swore and Bambam covered Shuyang’s ears.

“We have to give it to them somehow hyung! They’ll kill Jaebum hyung.” Youngjae looked like he was about to burst into tears.

“I know that, but 50,000,000W doesn’t just appear out of thin air, kid.” Jackson sit his jaw grimly.

“Then we take Jaebum back from them by force.” Yugeom suggested.

“We can’t do that alone. We’re down two people. Three, since I think someone should stay with Jinyoung at all times. We’ll need help.”

Bambam snapped his fingers.

“B.A.P?”

The others all looked at him like he was crazy, blinking owlishly.

“Look, they’re the closest gang to us who aren’t allies with VIXX.” he elaborated, making his argument. “We need people who don’t have anything to lose by challenging VIXX and B.A.P is our best bet.”

“Bam, are you crazy? Yongguk will bite your head off!” Yugeom still believed every single thing he heard, and he had heard a lot about Youngguk.

“No he won’t, don’t be ridiculous.” Jackson whacked him on the back. “Besides, if it’s our only chance at getting Jaebum back then we’ll just have to risk it.”

Yugeom and Youngjae still looked fearful, although this whole thing about talking to BAP had been Youngjae’s idea, and though Mark was more than willing to go, Jackson needed someone actually capable to stay behind and look after Jinyoung and the other two. Bambam sighed.

“Alright hyung. I’ll go too.” However, this posed another problem. Shuyang refused to let go of him, his tiny arms barely making it around the older boy’s waist.

“Hang on, hyung maybe this is a good thing. B.A.P is way less likely to shoot at us if we have a kid with.” Bambam tried to come up with a reasonable excuse as to why he really just didn’t want to go, or leave Shuyang behind.

Jackson wavered, but the Thai member was insistent.

“Hyung, the last thing Jaebum hyung said to me was to take care of Shuyang and I’m not going to just dump him off on someone else. He’s staying with me.”

“I like Bambam!” Shuyang hissed in Chinese at Jackson, who rolled his eyes.

“Fine. But if anything happens to him, I’m abandoning you to the wrath of Jaebum. He’ll tear you to pieces.”

“I’ll take responsibility.”


	6. Yongguk

Surprisingly, it was Shuyang who practically dragged Jackson and Bambam out the door. He was surprisingly strong considering his small frame, but the two could see vestiges of Jaebum’s stubbornness and strong will in him. He understood what was happening very well for a seven year old, insisting to Jackson that they would kill Jaebum if they didn’t hurry, which was probably true. Shuyang had foregone Korean altogether, resorting to yelling at the older Chinese with amazing boldness that shocked both of the young men.

They were met at the border by Himchan, who happened to be on patrol that night. He was suspicious, but Himchan was a suspicious man, that was nothing new and he didn’t have anything specific against GOT7.

“You guys really letting them in young, huh? I thought Yugeom was little.” he snorted, catching sight of Shuyang who crossed his arms and glared up at him.

“I’m going to like that kid when he grows up, I can tell already.” Himchan laughed before turning on his heel and escorting them to the main hideout.

They had recently upgraded, he explained, and the new place was much nicer than their previous one. It was certainly better than GOT7’s and the trio gaped at the huge warehouse. It was close to the docks and Jackson guessed this was an abandoned storage unit. Himchan motioned for them to stop and wait, waving over another member who was loitering around. Bambam recognized him as Moon Jongup. He had always told himself that if he was gay, he would definitely date Jongup.

“Watch them. I’m going to go get Yongguk.” he instructed.

Jongup eyed Shuyang and smiled. Shuyang flipped him off and he nearly burst out laughing before reverting his eyes forward. It seemed like a long time they were standing there, Jackson could feel his heart pounding out of his chest and Shuyang’s grip on Bambam’s jacket grew tighter with each passing minute. Finally, Himchan returned, followed by a grim looking figure.

Yongguk lived up to every story Jackson had ever heard about him, and for a split second, he reconsidered. Maybe Yugeom was right and he really did eat people. His entire chest was tattooed, the upper half visible above his low hanging t-shirt, the rest easily seen through the thin materiel. He had thick dark hair and his skin was much tanner. He wore several rings on his fingers and dark ripped jeans and had several piercings. But it was his eyes which were the most captivating. They were severe, yet there was a life in them, a galaxy of emotion swirling in that dark brown. Jackson involuntarily took a step backward. Although Yongguk was thiner than Jackson, he was taller and carried himself in a way that made him an overwhelming presence.

“I hear you’ve had trouble with VIXX.”

Holy shit his voice was deep. Bambam nearly fell over. Shuyang was behind him and Jackson, hidden almost completely from Yongguk’s sight.

“Y—yeah.” Jackson stammered out, trying and failing to keep his voice steady.

“And why should I bother to risk helping you?” he raised an eyebrow and Jackson opened his mouth to give a reason, but closed it once he realized he was unable to offer a good one.

Shuyang nearly leapt forward at that, hands balled into fists, ready to fly at Yongguk in a rage had Bambam and Jackson not been desperately trying to hold him back. They efforts failed and to their horror they watched the small boy wiggle out of their grasp and fling himself at the taller man, punching him in the stomach, which was the highest place he could reach. He stepped back, panting and glaring, and there was a long moment of silence.

Suddenly Yongguk chuckled a bit, crouching down and taking Shuyang’s hand.

“You’re swing is powerful, but your stance is weak. You need to follow through, as if you’re punching through me, like this.” he moved the young boy’s arm in a certain motion past him. “You got that? Here, try again.”

Bambam was sure his mouth had dropped so his chin was hitting the floor as the scene in front of him unfolded. He had been so sure Shuyang was dead meat, yet here Yongguk, who was the most terrifying man he had ever met, was teaching this kid of to punch people.

“I was going to help you.” Yongguk straightened up, leaving Shuyang to punch the air with great concentration.

“Thank you, Hyung?” Jackson questioned tentatively.

“I suspect we might be the cause of your troubles with VIXX,” Yongguk continued, motioning for Bambam and Jackson to havea seat.

Jackson had to pull Bambam down onto his chair since he was still standing there, mouth agape, staring.

“They’re about 50,000,000W in debt to us, and I assume they asked that amount as a ransom?” the older man continued, leaning back and crossing his legs.

“Exactly that amount.” Jackson nodded.

“So, I’m willing to help you get him back.” Yongguk concluded. “You’ll have Jongup, he’s a good asset, and he’s dealt with VIXX before. You’ll have Himchan, he’s worth ten people. And you’ll have any ammo you need.”

Jackson nearly cried he was so grateful, but his demonstration of thanks was interrupted by Shuyang zipping towards the door shouting for him to hurry up.

“I like that kid.” Himchan repeated for the second time.

He was stopped at the door by Jongup, slamming right into him.

“Where are you off to?” he asked, holding onto him and blocking his exit. “Don’t you think you should wait for your friends?”

“They’re going to slow! My brother is going to die.” he struggled to get out of his hold, but it was like trying to beat down a wall.

“No he won’t. He has you to save him.” he winked and Shuyang tilted his head with a small smile. “Be careful, okay?” he patted his hair and stepped aside.


	7. Torture

Jaebum woke up to cold water being dumped on his head. He shivered, the air feeling like little needles pricking his skin from the temperature, and his wet shirt sticking to him didn’t help. Something smarted on his left arm and he turned his head, which he found was the only thing he could move, to see that it was bandaged up. He was tied to a chair in a tiny room with no windows.

“Hyuck!” a voice from the other room reprimanded the person who had dumped the water. “I told you not to do that yet!”

The correction was met with a whine as Hyuck flung the bucket on the ground with a clatter.

“I thought I was supposed to wake him up!” he grumbled.

“That’s not what the water was for, dumbass.” another shoved him out of the way and pulled up Jaebum’s face to look at him. “Good morning.”

A sharp whistle from the doorway made the two men turn suddenly.

“Hongbin, Hyuck, leave him alone. Get out.” that was the voice of their leader, Hakyeon, Jaebum knew that much.

The two scurried around him and out, and he shut the door behind him, advancing towards Jaebum.

“Sorry about them.” he sighed, nonchalantly, “I think they were dropped as kids, they can be kind of thick.”

Jaebum didn’t reply, just glared up at the older man through his soaking bangs.

“So its true, you aren’t much of a talker. That’s fine. Neither am I.” Jaehwan pulled out his pocket knife and started cleaning his nails. “I guess I should explain why we kidnapped you. I have a bit of a problem. heh. I accidentally may have gotten myself in debt—“

“Well that was fucking stupid of you.” Jaebum growled.

Hakeyon paused and turned, pretending to be surprised.

“He speaks!”

“You got in debt, so you come, breaking a truce, beat up my gang, shoot my second in command in the arm, and kidnap me.” Jaebum interrupted him, venom lacing his voice. “Because you want money.”

Hakyeon shrugged.

“Sorry? Anyway, I left a note. Bambam will get it, annoying little brat. Then they can scrounge up the money from somewhere and then you’ll be free to go.”

“My gang isn’t giving you any money, Hakyeon.” Jaebum spat.

“Oh they will. Maybe not yet, but they will soon. Once they’re given a little incentive.” he turned and banged on the door.

“Huyck! Hongbin! Get in here you two, I have a job for you!”

There was muffled thumping before a few sharp raps on the door. Hakyeon ushered them inside.

“Why don’t you persuade Im Jaebum here to give us what we want.” he instructed.

“Goodbye, Jaebum.” and with that he shut the door.

There was silence as the two parties were left glaring at each other. Hongbin and Hyuck circled Jaebum like wolves, grinning from ear to ear.

“Sorry, nothing personal, just whatever the boss says. Plus, I personally would rather not have my heart cut out of my chest while I’m still alive. Yongguk does that to people who don’t pay I hear.” Hongbin informed.

And with that he delivered three well aimed strikes directly to the other’s left ribcage. Hongbin knew exactly what he was doing, and Jaebum gasped as he felt the wind get knocked out of him and the sharp racking pain of several ribs breaking. He coughed for air, the thick metallic taste of blood making him gag.

“I heard that rumor too hyung!” Hyuck replied as if nothing was happening. “SO messed up.”

“Hyuck, hold his head.” Hongbin ordered.

Hyuck did as he was told, one hand twisted in Jaebum’s hair, the other squeezing his chin painfully, definitely leaving marks. Hyuck had abnormally long nails.

“Better watch out, hyung was three time boxing champion in school.” he whispered, leaning down a bit.

“Couldn’t tell.” Jaebum managed to scoff before blinding pain spread across his face as Hongbin punched him square in the nose then twice in the jaw.

It was hard enough to hurt badly, but just carefully enough placed so as not to cause any real damage but bruising and bleeding. Hongbin wore several rings on his fingers, a few of which had cut stones, which sliced easily through skin, and Jaebum wondered if he hadn’t had that done on purpose.

“Honestly,” Hyuck elbowed him suddenly in his already broken ribs again, making him cry out. “I don’t know why we didn’t just pawn off all their jewelry they were wearing.”

“Because its all fake as shit. We wouldn’t get more than 4000W for that nonsense.” Hongbin rolled his eyes before he looked back at Jaebum, gauging his reaction.

After a while, seeing his victim’s nearly expressionless face, crossed now and then with spasms of pain, he realized they needed more than just physical pain to get to him. Jaebum had built up a pretty high tolerance. He was now annoyed with the younger man who refused to bend to him.

“We should have sold the kid off instead of killing him.” he continued, watching for a response. He got it.

“WHAT?!” Jaebum’s eyes snapped to life with an almost unearthly anger, his sudden outburst interrupted by a coughing fit as good trickled out of his mouth.

“We didn’t—“ Hyuck began in confusion before catching Hongbin’s glare and understanding. “—mean to exactly, I mean like normally we don’t kill kids but, he just got in the way.”

Luckily for them, Jaebum was too mad to notice the slip up. If he wasn’t securely tied to the chair he would have jumped up and cut them both to pieces then and there.

“You fucking MURDERERS! YOU MURDERED MY BROTHER!” he screamed, or at least tried to, his bruised lungs making anything above a slightly raised voice nearly impossible.

“Well maybe you should have been with him.” Hongbin scoffed, punching him in the face again, “What kind of brother are you, leaving him with that incompetent foreigner?”

“Hakyeon?!” Taekwoon turned sharply to the leader from where he was standing outside the door. “Did you tell them to say that?!”

Hakyeon looked up, a bit surprised. Taekwoon was usually quiet, and didn’t get involved with things.

“No, but I didn’t say they couldn’t. It doesn’t matter, really, they’re just trying to get a reaction out of him.” he shrugged and returned to counting out money.

“No, it does matter.” a hand on his shoulder turned him forcibly to face the owner and he came face to face with a very angry looking Taekwoon. “That’s out of line, Hakeyon, you know that. We don’t want to turn into _them._ You don’t bring people’s family into business, _especially_ not kids.”

“Alright, alright, you can go in there and stop them if you think it’s too much.“

Taekwoon was no longer listening, however, he had yanked the door open and ordered Hyuck and Hongbin out, shutting it after them.

“What were you two thinking?!” he snapped, dragging them away by their collars. They two youngest looked in bewilderment at Hakyeon, unaccustomed to this behavior from their habitually peaceful hyung. Hakyeon shot them an equally confused shrug before leaving them to their fate of being chastised.

“You don’t _ever_ bring family into things. Got that? You know who does that. Do you want to be like them, huh?”

The two shook their heads.

“Then what the fuck were you thinking?! Saying we killed his brother. Fucking nonsense! We didn’t even mean to shoot Jinyoung!!”

“Sorry hyung. We won’t do it again, hyung.” they swallowed hard.

“Good.” Taekwoon humphed and walked over towards the door where he could hear Jaebum quietly crying on the other side.

He was about to go in an try to reverse the damage the others had done, when Wonsik ran in in a breathless terror, pausing for two seconds, leaning over with his hands on his knees. Hakeyon jumped to his feet.

“What is it?!”

Wonsik was a scout, so if he was afraid, it probably meant something was very wrong.

“GOT7 is coming!”

Hakyeon scoffed.

“Pfft. They only have Jackson who’s worth anything. Wonsik pull yourself together.”

“No, no.” Wonsik shook his head vigorously. “They brought Himchan. They brought Himchan!”

“SHIT!” Hakyeon made a flying leap across the room for his gun just as someone kicked the door down and he landed hard with his hand inches away from it.

A foot stepped on his hand and it’s owner bent down and picked up the gun, pointing it at him. He followed its movement upwards to come face to face with the cold expressionless eyes of Himchan himself.

“I probably should have clarified: Yongguk wants _your_ money. Not GOT7’s money.”

Hakyeon coughed awkwardly, glancing around to see the rest of his gang sitting down in a group with guns pointed at them, except Taekwoon who was still pressed against the door to the room where Jaebum was. Jackson noticed him and instantly turned. Taekwoon put his hands up to show he was unarmed and slowly moved away from the door.

“He’s in there if you’re looking for him.” he stated, surprisingly calm considering Jackson was seething mad and had a gun.

A small blur shoved past Jackson and Taekwoon, fumbling with the lock a bit before flinging open the door.

“GE!” Shuyang practically threw himself his older brother, talking extremely rapidly in Chinese.

Jaebum looked up in shock, wincing a bit as Shuyang pressed against his sore side.

“Shuyang?! I thought—oh _God_ I thought you were dead!” he leaned in, resting his head against Shuyang’s shoulder, closing his eyes and letting tears of happiness roll down his checks.

Someone cut through the ropes around his wrists and arms and they instantly flew up to pull his little brother closer in to him as he cried even harder.

“I thought you were dead! Thank God!” he whispered. He was vaguely aware that Shuyang had no idea what he was saying, and he didn’t know what Shuyang was saying either, but he was content in feeling the other’s small arms wrapped around his neck and feeling him breathe, knowing he was alive.

“You told him Shuyang was dead?!” Bambam would have knifed Hakyeon then and there, but Himchan stuck his hand out.

“No. Don’t. It doesn’t matter.”

“Hyung, can you stand up? Do you feel lightheaded? What hurts?” Jackson was inspecting Jaebum and began with the barrage of worried questions. “Here, Shuyang,” he called in Mandarin, “get off him for a second he might be hurt.”

“Holy shit hyung your face!” he exclaimed as soon as Shuyang moved away.

“Left ribs, too. Three I think.” Jaebum whispered, not being able to get his voice to function properly. He couldn’t seem to take in enough air, and all of the crying hadn’t helped.

“Ah, hyung, you don’t look so well…” Bambam commented, seeing how pale the leader had gotten.

“I’m fine, let’s get out of here. Come here, Shuyang.” he stood up, ignoring the spinning in his head and took a step forward.

There was a sharp pain like someone had stabbed him in the side, then nothing. He felt himself falling forward, but couldn’t do anything to stop it. Everything sounded so far away, his body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Then it all went dark.

“HYUNG!” Jackson moved forward to catch Jaebum as he fell, butsomeone already had.

He expected it to be Himchan, or maybe Youngjae or another one of his fellow members, so he was surprised when he looked up to see the person holding his unconscious leader was none other than Taekwoon. Perhaps it wasn’t so surprising. From the few interactions they had ever had with VIXX, the cat-eyed man had always seemed the most reasonable and the most compassionate. He’d heard a rumor once that Taekwoon had joined a gang to helphim pay for med school. He wasn’t sure if he believed it…..maybe he did.

Taekwoon didn’t say anything, just gently passed Jaebum to Jackson….until Jackson went to carry him half over his shoulder.

“No! No, not like that. You’ll damage his ribs even more, and possibly cut off his breathing.”

Jackson gaped at the older man.

“Wait, is it true you’re a med student?”

Taekwoon didn’t answer, but maybe he didn’t really need to.


	8. Epilogue

“Ge. Geeeeeeeee. Ge! Are you awake?” a voice beside him whispered.

“Ugh.” he groaned, turning away and sub-consciously making to roll over before he was stopped by a searing pain. “Ow.”

Jaebum opened his eyes to see Shuyang beaming at him, holding a bowl of something.

“Hi ge! I made you something! Ta—Tae—“ he paused to mutter something in Mandarin, “Taekhwan ge said you shouldn’t stand up quickly, so I went and made you food. Jackson helped.”

Jaebum smiled, feeling his heart melt at how cute his younger brother was.

“Put it over there, I’ll eat it later.”

“It will get chilly!” Shuyang protested, climbing up on the bed next to Jaebum still holding the bowl, taking care not to go anywhere near his brother’s injured side.

“Okay okay!” Jaebum yielded, gingerly pulling himself up into a half sitting position.

He took the bowl from his brother and tasted it. It was good, some sort of Chinese dish. Jaebum idly wondered if his mother had ever made anything like it for Shuyang.

“It’s good.”

Pleased that Jaebum was happy, Shuyang wormed his way under the elder’s arm like a cat, pausing before snuggling close.

“Ouch?”

Jaebum shook his head.

“It’s on the other side.”

Shuyang rested his head against Jaebum, watching him eat.

“Want some?” Jaebum asked.

“uh uh.”

There was silence for a while before Shuyang lifted his head up again to look at Jaebum.

“Hyung?” he spoke in Korean this time, which surprised the older. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Shuyang.” Jaebum replied in Mandarin, tapping the tip of the other’s nose with his finger before the two settled down again.

Mark found them like that later, fast asleep, and this time, no one stopped Bambam from taking pictures.


End file.
